Colostrum or “first milk” is a form of milk produced by the mammary glands of mammals in late stage of pregnancy, such as just prior to giving birth, and sometimes even after pregnancy. Colostrum is the first nutritional liquid that comes out of the breast during lactation. Colostrum may include antibodies to protect the newborn against disease, and may be lower in fat and higher in protein than ordinary breast milk.
Colostrum is produced at a slow rate of several milliliters per hour and may require some form of pumping and/or hand expression to cause the liquid to exit the breast. In the first few days after birth, a newborn may be breastfed numerous times every day (e.g., 8-12 times per day). This allows the baby to get the benefits of the colostrum while stimulating production of mature milk.
Collection of breast milk (e.g., colostrum) may be difficult, due to the small amount of volume produced initially following giving birth. Existing breast milk pumps may not be designed for the small volumes initially expressed from the breast. Besides breast pumps, the generally accepted practice is to use whatever container is available to collect the initial breast milk. These containers may require transfer to another container for administering. Such a transfer of material may lead to loss of the initial breast milk when every precious drop counts.
Currently used techniques and devices for collecting and administering initial breast milk (e.g., colostrum) have a number of drawbacks. For example, current techniques may involve expressing colostrum into a relatively large container, such as a plastic cup or breast pump bottle. As the colostrum or initial mature milk may be produced in small volumes, mothers may often get discouraged when the colostrum appears to be incredibly small-volume relative to a large container. This may cause a mother to give up on breast-feeding during the first few days of a newborn's life.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide improved devices, systems, and methods for collecting colostrum or initial mature milk from a breast and storing and/or dispensing the colostrum. The devices, devices, and methods may be designed to transfer colostrum or breast milk to the newborn in an efficient way, so that very little colostrum or breast milk is lost in the process.